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Michelle Yeoh *was* asked back to play Wai Lin in Die Another Day (she would have combined the role Chang and the Chinese girl have in the hotel in Hong Kong) but wasn't available on the filming dates.

Interesting. I didn't realize that. That's a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I really love the character of Wai Lin (one of the best Bond girls IMHO). On the other hand, I can't stand DOD. And I doubt her inclusion would have made that much of a difference to the film as a whole since it would have been a relatively small part the way you describe it IIRC.

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"For everyone lost in the endlessly multiplicating realities of the modern world, remember: Philip K. Dick got there first" - Terry Gilliam

But I just don't see how. All third party accounts and evidence over the years have suggested Witthingham and McClory's actual contribution was limited and that all the parts in question (SPECTRE and Blofeld, for instance) were part of Fleming's original short story. If it had been dragged out in court, there's little doubt Fleming would have one. He was simply too ill to bother and acquiesced.

Really, it was nothing more than piss-ant of a man trying to take advantage of an unfortunate situation and make a career for himself.. In fact, I'll even put it to the court that had Fleming been younger and of better health, McClory would've just stayed home--or gone back to holding the microphones.

In any case, the issue is really over the Thunderball property itself which, by default, includes SPECTRE. However, one could easily argue Blofeld is not conclusive.

He isn't actually called "Blofeld, nor had he been on film to that date.

All there was was a couple of hands and a cat. Hell, people can't even agree on who provided the voice. So, if EON were to go ahead and make him the King of Quantum, I don't think there'd be anything anyone could say about it. And, it's not as if McClory is going to come back from the afterlife.

I love Fleming's Bond novels, and have great respect for his inimitable style. However, I think your bash of McClory is unfair, and Fleming really did make a tremendous mistake in not acknowledging or compensating him for his contributions to what became the Thunderball novel. The 1959-1960 effort in developing the Thunderball screenplay as the first Bond film was a collaborative effort between Fleming, McClory, Whittingham and Cuneo. The Thunderball script was shelved in favor of Dr. No, and Fleming made a decision that was to haunt him for the rest of his sadly short life: publishing the book with no compensation or acknowedgement of McClory or Whittingham's contributions. If he had done the right thing and bought out McClory and Whittingham's rights to Thunderball prior to publishing the novel he would have saved himself and EON much future grief. I do think McClory & Sony overreached in their final lawsuit by trying to sue for compensation for McClory having created "the cinematic Bond" and asking for payment from profits of the entire series. But, it should also be noted that the suit was dismissed on the grounds that he took too long to bring it to court, not that it had no merit.

Of course, EON still owns the celluloid of Thunderball, and now MGM owns Never Say Never Again. It seems that there is ambiguity if the McClory estate still owns rights to the Thunderball script and its contents. Sony settled with MGM (and in a twist worthy of Hollywood, ended up owning Bond's distribution rights via MGM) and so it appears McClory's renewed claim of rights to yet another remake of Thunderball was never decided. It also seems that EON/MGM/Sony do not want to run the risk of opening a can of worms to resolve this ambiguity as they have repeatedly declined to ever use SPECTRE or Blofeld again, even in the recent video game version of From Russia With Love. As an epilogue, it should be noted that Sony's distro rights to Bond ended with Quantum of Solace (see, on topic!) so who knows what the future holds.

"The Battle for Bond" an excellent book on the creation of the Bond film series, sadly in printing limbo as evidently anything that even touches Thunderball is cursed (e.g. the newspaper strip). Copies may still be available out there somewhere.

The Battle for Bond[/URL]" an excellent book on the creation of the Bond film series, sadly in printing limbo as evidently anything that even touches Thunderball is cursed (e.g. the newspaper strip). Copies may still be available out there somewhere.

I read it was being reissued but with certain parts deleted due to legal decree ... which I guess means it is even more essential to find the original edition by whatever means possible.

I enjoyed this a great deal. It misfired in places; the editing of some of the actions shots has been discussed at length, but it is a solid follow up to the excellent CR. What we're getting is Bond, the realized character, instead of Bond the Action Quip Machine. Don't get me wrong, I own every film, and throw them in when I'm bored; I like the Action Quip Machine a lot. This, however, is better.